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On January 7, 2002, Paul Levy became CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He took over a troubled organization, in serious financial difficulty. This multimedia case describes the situation Levy inherited, his negotiations prior to taking the job, and his first six months as CEO. Includes extensive video interviews with Levy, conducted every two to four weeks during his first six months; a detailed timeline and calendar of events; excerpts from Levy's daily schedule, e-mail correspondence, internal reports, and memoranda; and selected Boston Herald newspaper articles. This case presents users with an unvarnished view of the gritty details of day-to-day general management.

Authorized faculty can see an exam copy of a multimedia case online by adding a Free Trial to their Library.

learning objective:

Designed to show students how a talented CEO takes charge of a troubled organization and begins the turnaround process. Allows for discussions of leadership style and management philosophy, the change process, communications strategy, and decision making.

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This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading.

Most executives think of decision making as a singular event that occurs at a particular point in time. In reality, though, decision making is a process fraught with power plays, politics, personal nuances, and institutional history. Leaders who recognize this make far better decisions than those who persevere in the fantasy that decisions are events they alone control. That said, some decision-making processes are far more effective than others. Most often, participants use an advocacy process, possibly the least productive way to get things done. They view decision making as a contest, arguing passionately for their preferred solutions, presenting information selectively, withholding relevant conflicting data so they can make a convincing case, and standing firm against opposition. Much more powerful is an inquiry process, in which people consider a variety of options and work together to discover the best solution. Moving from advocacy to inquiry requires careful attention to three critical factors: fostering constructive, rather than personal, conflict; making sure everyone knows that their viewpoints are given serious consideration even if they are not ultimately accepted; and knowing when to bring deliberations to a close. The authors discuss in detail strategies for moving from an advocacy to an inquiry process, as well as for fostering productive conflict, true consideration, and timely closure. And they offer a framework for assessing the effectiveness of your process while you're still in the middle of it. Decision making is a job that lies at the very heart of leadership and one that requires a genius for balance: the ability to embrace the divergence that may characterize early discussions and to forge the unity needed for effective implementation.

learning objective:

To see how constructive conflict, openness to others' ideas, and closure can help decision-makers identify better solutions, stimulate creative thinking, and make higher-quality decisions.

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Seeking and giving advice are central to effective leadership and decision making, and they require emotional intelligence, self-awareness, restraint, diplomacy, and patience on both sides. But managers tend to view these competencies as "gifts" that one either has or lacks. The authors argue instead that they're practical skills you can learn and apply to great effect. They draw on a large body of research to identify the most common obstacles to effectively seeking and giving advice--such as thinking one already has the answers, defining the problem poorly, and overstepping boundaries--and offer practical guidelines for getting past them. The authors define the five stages of advising: (1) finding the right fit; (2) developing a shared understanding; (3) crafting alternatives; (4) converging on a decision; and (5) putting advice into action. Each stage includes suggestions for seekers and for advisers. Example: At stage 4, when it's time to narrow down the options, a seeker might review discarded or briefly considered ideas, and his adviser might play devil's advocate--to check for confirmation bias. Overall, the authors' guidelines amount to a fundamental shift in approach: a creative, collaborative way of understanding problems and crafting promising paths forward--which often requires an ongoing conversation.

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Delivered entirely online, the Decision Making module of Harvard ManageMentor teaches students how to turn decision making into an effective business process that incorporates input from many individuals throughout an organization. Students learn to identify underlying issues related to a decision, generate multiple alternatives, evaluate those alternatives, and communicate and implement the decision. This guide includes tools and techniques for diagnosing and defining problems, identifying root causes, generating options, and weighing alternatives.

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This note examines the processes of seeking, receiving, and giving advice by drawing on both academic research and the lessons of skilled practitioners. It begins with a discussion of the potential benefits and costs of advice-seeking and advice-giving. The note then defines and distinguishes four related activities: advising, counseling, coaching and mentoring. Next, it describes the primary stages or steps in the advising process; each stage is examined from the perspective of both advice-seekers and advice-givers. The note concludes with recommendations for practice, listing a number of pitfalls to avoid when seeking, receiving, and giving advice as well as several guidelines and best practices.

learning objective:

The purpose of this note is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of advice-seeking and advice-giving so that they can engage more effectively in both activities.

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For teaching purposes, this is the commentary-only version of the HBR case study. The case-only version is reprint R1401X. The complete case study and commentary is reprint R1401L.

Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

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This HBR Case Study includes both the case and the commentary. For teaching purposes, this Reprint is also available in two other versions: case study-only, reprint R1401X, and commentary-only, R1401Z.

Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

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For teaching purposes, this is the case-only version of the HBR case study. The commentary-only version is reprint R1401Z. The complete case study and commentary is reprint R1401L.

Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

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High-performing knowledge workers often question whether managers actually contribute much, especially in a technical environment. Until recently, that was the case at Google, a company filled with self-starters who viewed management as more destructive than beneficial and as a distraction from "real work." But when Google's people analytics team examined the value of managers, applying the same rigorous research methods the company uses in its operations, it proved the skeptics wrong. Mining data from employee surveys, performance reviews, and double-blind interviews, the team verified that managers indeed had a positive impact. It also pinpointed exactly how, identifying the eight key behaviors of great Google managers. In this article, Harvard Business School professor Garvin describes how Google has incorporated the detailed findings from the research into highly specific, concrete guidelines; classes; and feedback reports that help managers hone their essential skills. Because these tools were built from the ground up, using the staff's own input, they've been embraced by Google employees. Managers say that they've found their training to be invaluable, and managers' ratings from direct reports have steadily risen across the company.

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Describes a senior management team's strategic decision-making process. The division president faces three options for redesigning the process to address several key concerns. The president has extensive quantitative and qualitative data about the process to guide him as he and the senior team attempt to make improvements.

learning objective:

To teach students about how general managers can design and shape decision-making processes, and how these processes affect the quality of the choice and implementation.

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